Prices for Permian drilling rights can run as high as $60,000 an acre. Trading land allows companies to drill the longer wells using ground a second company probably won’t develop, a win-win situation, said Bryan Sheffield, Parsley’s chief executive officer. But developers should take advantage now, because the practice likely has a low life expectancy.

“The trade rush is happening now,” said John Sellers, co-chief executive officer at Fort Worth-based Double Eagle, which built much of its current position in the Permian from dozens of trades. “The golden era of trades is probably going to happen over the next 18 to 24 months. Then people are going to really have their positions buttoned up more.”

Double Eagle, which is in the process of selling about 71,000 acres in the Permian to Parsley for $2.8 billion, has found that trading is the best way to catch the attention of larger players whose mineral rights he covets.